About this place
Stretching 312 meters by 200 meters, Place Bellecour is one of the largest open squares in Europe and the third largest in France, a great gravel plain laid out in the seventeenth century on former marshy ground between the Rhône and the Saône. It has carried many names through the centuries, from Place Royale to Place de la Fédération, Place Bonaparte, and Place Napoléon, before finally settling as Place Bellecour under the Third Republic. At its center stands an equestrian statue of Louis XIV by François Frédéric Lemot, installed in 1825 to replace an earlier statue of 1713 that was torn down and melted into cannon during the Revolution. Today the square is Lyon's symbolic heart, home to the tourist office, a seasonal Ferris wheel, and a tender statue of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry seated beside his Little Prince.
Key facts
- 312 meters — The length of the square, one of the largest in all of Europe
- 1825 year — The current bronze statue of Louis XIV was installed
- 1713 year — The first royal statue was cast, before the Revolution melted it for cannon
📍 Place Bellecour, 69002, Lyon